The Kenya School of Law (KSL) has stopped receiving applications for its 2027/2028 Advocates Training Programme (ATP), the mandatory bar course for aspiring advocates, after the High Court issued interim orders against the new admission rules attached to the intake. The school announced the suspension in a public notice dated Thursday, 15 October 2026.

According to the notice, as reported by Kenyans.co.ke and Nairobi Leo, applications for the ATP Class of 2027/2028 have been "temporarily suspended pending further directions from the Court and the determination of the matter". The school said it regretted any inconvenience caused and promised that further updates would be shared through its official communication channels.

The decision leaves prospective bar students, many of them recent law graduates, uncertain about when, and under what rules, they will be able to apply. Applications for the intake had originally been due to close on 13 November, with the programme scheduled to begin on 1 February 2027, KDRTV reported.

Court freezes contested entry rules

The suspension follows conservatory orders issued on 6 October by Justice John Onyiego, who certified the matter as urgent. The Standard and Capital FM reported that the judge barred KSL and the Council of Legal Education (CLE), the sector regulator, from implementing or giving effect to the disputed admission criteria pending an inter partes hearing.

Under the orders, as reported by The Standard, the two institutions may not receive, process, evaluate or determine applications based on the contested requirements, and KSL may not admit, enrol or begin training anyone for the 2027/28 programme under those criteria. Capital FM reported that the respondents were also directed to preserve the position that existed before the new criteria were published.

The court gave the respondents seven days to file their responses and fixed the inter partes hearing for 13 October. Reports published after that date, including KSL's own notice, did not disclose what happened at the hearing, and the school has not said when applications might reopen.

What the petitioners are challenging

The case was brought by Elizabeth Achieng and the organisation Kioo Cha Jamii, according to The Standard, which also reported that advocate Jared Gekombe has filed a substantially similar petition seeking to suspend the same advertisement.

The dispute centres on changes in KSL's advertisement for the 2027/28 intake. Admission to the ATP has traditionally required, among other conditions, a minimum KCSE mean grade of C+ and a B plain in English or Kiswahili. The new notice added alternative routes, including pathways for some law graduates with lower secondary school grades who hold additional qualifications, and a route for applicants who pass a Pre-Bar Examination.

The petitioners argue that such substantive changes cannot be made through an annual intake advertisement. Capital FM reported that they contend the new criteria are not backed by an Act of Parliament or valid subsidiary legislation, noting that the draft Legal Education (Advocates Training Programme) Regulations, 2026 and a companion set of licensing regulations have yet to complete public participation, parliamentary approval and gazettement. The petition cites Articles 10, 27, 43 and 47 of the Constitution, as well as the Fair Administrative Action Act and the Statutory Instruments Act.

Pre-Bar Examination applications

KSL's notice did not mention the Pre-Bar Examination, applications for which opened alongside the ATP intake. Kenyans.co.ke reported that applications for the January 2027 sitting are due to close on 11 December, but it remains unclear how the court case will affect candidates who had planned to use that exam as a route into the bar course.

The standoff comes amid wider reforms to legal education. The Attorney-General set up a working committee on legal education sector reforms in August 2024, whose work on ATP entry requirements is cited in the petition, according to Capital FM.

Photo: Kenyans.co.ke